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Sunday, 14 April 2013

5 Star Tigers Secure Play Off Spot

Tigers secured their 9th successive Premiership
semi final courtesy of a 5 try bonus point trashing of a lacklustre Wasps side
that slide out of the Heineken Cup qualification places.Tigers tries came from a Ben Youngs brace,
Graham Kitchener, Rob Hawkins and Adam Thompstone.Wasps try was a consolation solo effort from
Elliot Daly when the match as a contest was already over.

Tigers made three “late” changes, definitely not pre planned
early in the week, as Steve Mafi, Graham Kitchener and Rob Hawkins replaced Tom
Croft, Geoff Parling and Tom Youngs.This made four changes from the side defeated in Toulon and a nice
amount of rotation.

Billy Vunipola continued where he left off in the last
Tigers Wasps game giving away the first kickable penalty after 8 minutes as he
lazily flopped over the ball.Luckily
for the Saracens bound bruiser the strong wind coming over the Crumbie blew it
off course with a mighty gust.The wind
was playing havoc with the kickers in the warm up and caught Flood more than
once today.

Vunipola was again the culprit as Flood pushed Tigers to 3-0
on 13 minutes.The number 8 dummied and
went from a defensive ruck with no support and the Milton Keynes Mountain
swallowed him whole, referee Doyle judging Vunipola to be holding on under
pressure from Ed Slater.The wind tried
its trickery again but this time Flood was wise to it and snuck the ball inside
the right hand post.

Flood’s second penalty came from a very harsh call from
referee Doyle; Nicky Robinson was ruled to have deliberately knocked the ball
on when his attempted interception was unsuccessful.The ball barely went forward at all and
Robinson’s only contact with it was to tip it up to try and make a juggling
catch.Quite who has told referees that
interceptions are to be penalised out of the game is beyond me as all we are
left with is players getting cards for doing little more than having eyes
bigger than their bellies whilst wanton thuggery goes unpunished.

Tigers’ first try came from a lucky break as Ben Youngs’s clearing
box gained the thinnest of touches from a Wasps hand gaining Tigers a line out
well within their enemy’s territory. Tony Allen made yet another yard gaining
carry through the midfield traffic before Mat Tait switched the play from left
to right freeing Steve Mafi; the Tongan Octopuss used his flowing limbs to off
load to Niall Morris coming like a steam train on his left.Morris took the ball to the 5 metre line and
Mafi took the ball up a further few metres before Flood put Hawkins to a yard
out in the corner of the CAT stand.Scrum half Charlie Davies had taken up his position guarding the left
hand flank of the ruck but the merest hint of a look to the blindside made him
shift round to the other side; that opened the hole for his opposite number Ben
Youngs to dive through the gap and claim the first try of the match.

Tigers struck again just 4 minutes later as Graham Kitchener
brushed off Christian Wade’s poor attempt at a tackle to finish off a stunning
phase of play.Tigers had controlled the
ball from a line out well enough gaining yards slowly and surely before Ben
Youngs span the ball out to that man again Tony Allen who ghosted between Jon
Poff and Charlie Hayter before finding Niall Morris with a beauty of a pass of
his left hand.Morris bounced back
inside link a pin ball before popping the ball out of the tackle back to Ben
Youngs.Youngs threw a perhaps ill
advised floated pass back 15 yards to Julian Salvi who fed his back row
partners Jordan Crane and Steve Mafi.Mafi’s pass to Kitchener was a stunner fizzing off his right hand
cutting out two defenders before the burley lock trampled over the ineffectual
Wade and ignored the attempts of Tommy Bell to force him into touch.

Wasps’ first points came from a soft penalty given away by
Kitchener around the half way.It was a
tight call to say he was in the side but Tommy Bell made light of the wind to
punish the try scorer’s mistake and raise the flags with little fuss.

Tigers could have had a third try in the 30th
minute as a glorious move was snuffed out right at the end as Adam Thompstone
was forced into touch as he grounded the ball; the referee went to the TMO but
that was fairly inconclusive.One angle
ruled his legs were in play but who could tell whether the ball hit the line of
his arm was in touch first?The TMO
ruled simultaneous and no try.

It didn’t matter though as the third try was quick in
coming.Rob Hawkins was forced into
touch just short and managed to slip the ball to Tom Varndell as he was dragged
out to touch so Tigers threw in.Wasps
blitzed the lineout drive and rocked Tigers but the pack held firm and the
Wasps onslaught washed around our sides.As the last of them slipped harmlessly by the drive was set and Tigers
charged for the line.Referee Doyle had
no hesitation in awarding the try as Rob Hawkins was cast in the Neil Back role
and let his mates work his try for him.

Charlie Hayter was lucky to stay on the field at the end of
the half as the referee missed his ugly rake across Toby Flood’s face in a ruck.When you sign players to the big boy league
they have to expect big boy scrutiny, Hayter isn’t playing in a muddy park
anymore and that kind of thing might be okay for Moseley but it isn’t in the
big leagues.He can count his lucky
stars that he isn’t a Frenchman in the Heineken Cup.Predictably the referee did see Flood’s
reaction to the interference though so Wasps gained another 3 points as the
final act of the half.

At half time Thomas Waldrom replaced Steve Mafi who played
superbly on his comeback but was clearly still uncomfortable with his
hamstrings and Martin Castrogiovanni replaced Dan Cole in a simple swap.

Another deliberate knock on from Wasps another penalty,
though this one did go forwards and was much closer to being deliberate again
though the referee dealt with him harshly as Tom Bell was sent to the sin bin
for his indiscretion.Tigers as is their
wont took a scrum and after a quick attempt at the drive used Crane off the
base.The majestic Jordan help flanker
Jon Poff for just a second before releasing Ben Youngs but a second was all he
needed as he put on the after-burners and sprinted between Poff and Tom’s
brother Chris Bell.

Job done as Ben Youngs was replaced by Sam Harrison and Matt
Smith took the place of Anthony Allen.

Billy Vunipola was lucky not see red for his vicious hack
down of Manu Tuilagi.No arms were
anywhere near the tackle as Vunipola targeted Tuilagi’s knees, both the NFL and
rugby league have clamped down on this most dangerous of tackles and Rugby has
the wrapping of the arm rule already in place to ban it; but Doyle was blind to
the thuggery and dangerous play of the Wasps man and shockingly not even a
penalty was given.Later in the match
Joe Simpson was to target Tuilagi too, perhaps a tactic to try and incite the
Hinckley man’s volcanic temper?

The Wasps pack was on top for a spell earning their side a
penalty at a scrum then from a maul.Elliot Daly was on hand, with Tom Bell in the bin, to slot the penalty
over from more than 40 yards.

Tigers were back in the ascendency though as Waldrom saw the
Wasps defence part around him as he charged through the midfield.The ball was kept alive through Salvi and
Mulipola but the move fizzled out as Flood’s hopeful chip through ran into
touch.

Ed Slater though was having none of that and his mighty mitt
pawed the ball back onto the Leicester side in the lineout.Crane then Tuilagi took the ball into contact
left and right of the posts before a midfield fumble from Castro went backwards
and was swept up by Sam Harrison and went through Flood’s then Slater’s hands before
Mat Tait popped up on the left wing to fix the final defender and send Adam
Thompstone clear to the line.

A bit of ballet dancing down the dead ball line meant the
try was referred to the TMO but all was in order and Tigers had their 5th
try of the match and 74th try of the season.

All that was left was a consolation try for Elliot Daly as
he danced inside Adam Thompstone as Sam Harrison was a touch too close to his
inside man and a touch too far from Thompstone on his outside.It was a cracking try but it was symptomatic
of the low intensity of the second half as Tigers just stood watching without
it really mattering.

Wasps had a few more ineffectual attacks as they were
arguably their own worst enemy with inaccurate attacking and sloppy unforced
knock ons.Charlie Hayter showed why he
is probably better suited to the Championship as he dillied and dallied and let
the inside defence tackle him rather than float a ball out to Varndell in acres
of space.When you have the man only a handful
short of the league’s scoring record I would suggest giving him the ball 10
meters from the line might be a bit of an idea.

Just a thought.

The match ended on a bit of a sour note as Wasps, sore from
the beating they had just taken, decided that the old maxim of “If we can’t win
the match win the fight” needed a new airing.Tigers played into their hands somewhat by not kicking the ball out and
not taking a backwards step.Simon
McIntyre threw two punches at Fraser Balmain after being tackled legally yet
the Wasps man somehow got the penalty.McIntyre’s response was grossly disproportionate; quite what the TMO was
watching is beyond me to miss those punches.Joe Simpson then stamps on Manu
Tuilagi’s head and continues his fight after the final whistle.

Tigers were simply the better team in almost every facet and
will be glad that they didn’t rise to the Wasps bait late on in the game.Ed Slater and Graham Kitchener were
magnificent in the second row as was Jordan Crane at 8.Anthony Allen took the Wasps midfield to
school and taught them a lesson and whilst Toby Flood might have had an off day
with his boot he was the leader throughout and superb in open play.

Tigers move on to Bath next week and London Irish two weeks
after requiring only 3 points from the two games to secure an 8th
Welford Road Premiership Semi final; on this form that should be achieved with
something to spare.